Dam per-regulator



N0 Mm) P LBGLERE DAMPER REGULATOR.

Patented Sept. 20, 1887.`

In ven tor:

ne Puras nmwummpw, washington nc.

UNrrn STATES FRANCIS LECLRE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

" oAMPER-REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,267, datedSeptember 20, 188'7.

Application filed March 1S, 1887.

To aZZ'wi/om it 17mg/ concern.-

Beit known that I, FRANCIS LnoLRE, a citizen of the United States,residing at-Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and 5 State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDamper-Regnlators; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to damper-regulators; and it consists in a devicewhereby the sensitiveness of the damper to slight changes ofsteam-pressure is prevented from causing the position of the damper tobe changed, and thus a more uniform supply of steam is producedaccompanied by a great saving of fuel.

My invention, as will be seen, is applicable to all regulators in whicha loaded diaphragm or piston is used for indicating the varying pressureof steam and for causing the motion of the damper; butit is especiallywell adapted for steam-generators and sectional boilerssuch as are knownas the ,Baboock & WilcoX-and other boilers which have very littlesteam-room, and therefore are subject to sudden changes ofsteam-pressure,such sudden changes vhaving the effect of v'keeping thedamper constantly in motion, andl thus irritating the draft and fireunder the boiler to such a degree that an excessive amount of fuel isrequired to produce the necessary amount of steam at a nearly uniformpressure.

With my invention steam of almost uniform pressure at a fair saving offuel is produced; and I will now proceed to give a full description ofits construction and operation with the aid of the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l is a front view of mechanism of awell-known damper-regulator, partly in section and partly in outline,and of my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram of the loaded diaphragm-leverand the pendulum-weight of my invention, the inclinations of the latterbeing indicated and their perpendicular projections marked upon theextended line of the diaphragm-lever. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of 5oa water-valve used in the said damper-regula- SerialNo.23l,-l74. (Nomodel.)

tor, said section being taken at a right angle to the section shown inFig. l.

The letter A in the drawings represents a lsteam-vessel closed at thebottom and open on `ing upon said cap and supporting a loadeddiaphragm-lever, C, from below, forms the connecting -link between thereciprocating diaphragm and lever. The knife-edge fulcrum c of thediaphragm-lever C is suitably hung in an ordinary superstructure, A',and the lever itself is guided in the slotted portion dof an uprightstand, D, fastened to the foundation-plate X of the vessel A. j

'Iwo set-screws, d d, in-the stand D, oneat 7o the lower and one at theupper termination of the slotted portion d, serve as adjustableabutments of the diaphragm-lever C. A connecting-rod, e, transmits themotion of the lever C to a piston-valve, E,which moves in a closely- 7 5fitting cylinder, e, provided with ports e2 e3 c". Said ports areconnected with pipes F F F2, respectively, the pipe Fin the port c2conveying supply-water under pressure, the pipe F in the port c3conveying water to and from cylinder e and a cylinder, G, (hereinafterre` ferred 130,) and the pipe F2 in port e4 conveying waste water to thediaphragm a.

The piston-valve E is a solid cylinder provided with fiat depressions orreductions c5 c, 85 so arranged in relation to the ports e e3 ci thatwhen at its middle elevation, as illustrated, it holds the port eclosed; when at its highest elevation it, by means of itsdepression e5,furnishes communication between the ports eZ c3, and when at its lowestelevation it, by means of its depression e, furnishes communicationbetween the ports e3 e". In the first case the supply is cut off frompipe F', in the second case the supply-water in pipe F flows into 9 pipeF', and in the third case the water is drawn from pipe F and dischargedthrough pipe'FZ. The pipe F connects the port e3 of the cylinder 'e'with the foot portion of the cylinder G, which cylinder is provided witha icc 2 evo, 267

piston, g, loaded with weights g. The pistonrod g2 of said piston isprovided with an arm, g3, and a chain, g4, the latter operating thedamper H by means of a pulley, 71, or other suitable device.

A weight, h', is attached to the end of the chain g4, for the purpose ofkeeping it taut and enabling it to move the damper both ways.v A cord,h2, is tied to the arm g3, passed around a pulley, h3, suitably fastenedto a stand, a3, which forms the top portion of the superstructure A andsupports the cylinder G. The cord It extends horizontally to an arm, t,of a pendulum, I, pivoted at t" to the -lever C. This pendulum isprovided with an adjustable weight, 2, fastened to it by means of asetscrew, i3, at any desirable elevation. The arm z' extends upward at asuitable angle-say from thirty'to forty-ve degrees from a verticalline-and it is provided with holes it, in any one of which the cord h2may in turn' be fastened, as circumstances may require. When steam is atan average pressure in the boiler, the lever C is balanced between theadjustingscrews d d2, as shown, and the damper E is at rest, the valve Ebeing in its middle posiof the boiler-furnace is the most powerful, and

is apt to create sooner or later a surplus of l steam, which will causethe lever C to rise.

In consequence of this rising of the lever C the valve E is moved toitshighest position, i

thereby opening communication between the ports e e2, so that thesupply-water enters the cylinder G and raises the piston g, therebyturning the damper into an inclined position and diminishing the draftarea. While this is going on my invention prevents a sudden rise of thediaphragm and the completecutting off the draft by a steady increase ofweight on the lever C, which is caused by the rising piston g and arm g3pulling the cord h2 and moving the weighted pendulum I in an i11- clinedposition, and the higher the piston g is forced up the more inclinedwill be the pendulum and the greater the increase of weight on the leverC. As long as the weight thus added to the lever C does not exceed agiven limit-say from one to ve pounds, or whatever may be desirable-thelever G will be so balanced between the adjustable abutting screws d d2that the position of the valve E is not materially changed and thedamper H is not moved; but when the aforesaid limit is exceeded by thestill-increasing pressure of steam the lever C will be raised to itshighest position, as above stated.

The sensitiveness of the described device may be suitably increased byfastening the cord h2 in a hole i* nearer the fulcrum t.

With the draft area reduced in the described manner the steam-pressurein the boiler gradually diminishes and the lever C descends un- If itstands vertically in the chimney, as shown in the drawings, the drafttil the position of the valve E is reversed, whereupon the piston g willdescend, thus causing the cord 71? to allow the pendulum I to 7ogradually assume a more perpendicular position and diminish the weightupon the lever-C. By this operation the lever C is prevented from goingaltogether down upon the abutting screw d2, unless the above-given limitof low press- 75 ure should be exceeded, aud the damper H will remainstationary until the steam-pressure falls below the said limit, when thevalve E will be sufficiently lowered to open communication between theports e3 e4. The water is now emptied from the cylinder G through thewaste-pipeFz, as before stated, and the damper H is moved so as toincrease the draft-area and the-steam-generating power of the boiler.

It is easily seen that by changing the position of the weight i2 on thependulum I, or by changing the connection of the cord h2 from one holei* to another, or by making both of said changes at once, the limitationof deviation from average pressure and the sensitiveness of the lever Cto the changes in the steampressure may be adjusted to a greater or lessextent, or accordingly as desired.

This device has been found to be especially well adapted for use withsectional boilers, with which it has been found to work remarkably welland with great saving of fuel. The great inconvenience experienced withother damper-regulators, arising from the improper motions of the damperand the consequent disturbed and interrupted combustion of fuel andgeneration of steam, is avoided.

I will state that the fastening of the cord h2 to an arm, g3, is notanessential feature of my invention, since said cord may be attacheddirectly to the piston-rod of the piston g, or to the chain g4, or tothe pulley h, in order to work in conjunction with piston g; neither isit necessary for the arm t' to form an angle with the pendulum I, as insome cases it may be more advantageous to form it in line with thependulum.

Previous to my Vinvention the best-known damper-regulator consisted ofthe steam-diaphragm,diaphragm-lever, and damper-motor. It is evidentthat in this construction the diaphragm-lever once raised will move upuntil it is arrested by the abutting screw d', or when beginning to dropwill continue so until arrested by the abutting screw d. Thus theslightest change of boiler pressure effects either a full opening orclosing of the damper, when really a slight change of position of thedamper would be the thing required to produce the desiredsteam-pressure, and thus the damperregulator gives at each change eithertoo much or not enough draft, and the boilerpressure is unnecessarilychanged from high to low, simply by the action of the regulator alone,or nearlyso, to the detriment of boiler and machinery.

By gradually increasing the resistance to the rising diaphragm-lever,with the aid of the moving piston g, the said lever Omay become IOO IIO

balanced and temporarily stationary at any elevation between theabutting screws d d2, and a slight change in steam-pressure willnotaffect the damper-motor and damper; hence,

unlike the operation of the old damper-regulators, the operation of adamper-regulator having my invention attached to it is not simultaneouswith triiiing changes of steampressure, and the motions of the damperare not so frequent and radical, giving a more uniform draft, a moreregular steam development, and less anxiety to the engineer.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a damper-regulator, thecombination,

with a loaded diaphragm-lever, and a dampen' motor having a valveoperated by the diaphragm-lever, of a weighted pendulum fulvcrurned tothe diaphragm-lever and operated by the damper-motor, substantially asand the purpose described.

2. In a damper-regulator, the combination, with a diaphragm-lever, ofaweighted pendufor lum attached to the end portion of said lever, and apiston of a damper-motor connected with said pendulum, substantially asand for the purpose described.

3. A weighted pendulum fulcrumed to the WM. H. WOOD, SHELDON POTTER.

